Finland, two more nuclear sites on their way

Angela Merkel‘s Germany might be phasing out nuclear power, but its large energy utilities aren’t. E.ON‘s Finnish subsidiary is leading Fennovoima, a Finnish consortium bound to announce soon the location of a new reactor the Nordic country wants to build. The new projects is a sign of Finland’s determination to curb its reliance on Russian energy and help its metals and forestry sectors stay competitive.

Fennovoima plans to announce the new site as soon as a court rules on land use claims. The two candidate sites, Pyhajoki and Simo, are both in northern Finland.

Finland’s parliament last year decided to allow Fennovoima and Teollisuuden Voima (TVO) to construct new nuclear reactors, which are expected to come on line by around 2020, and raise the number of reactors in Finland to seven.